Elastic, non-sticking wound textiles are known from German Pat. No. 1,492,434, DOS Nos. 2,656,041 and 2,656,042. The wound textile is prevented from sticking to the wound mainly by weaving or knitting together varyingly shrinking yarns or threads so that, in the case of secretion, the highly twisted thread or threads are shortened, leading to the formation of a tunnel. Bandaging materials of this type are very suitable for quick-acting wound bandages, but do not have an optimum action when used as compresses for wounds with a high secretion rate, because there can be so much secretion that the textile can no longer completely absorb it. As a result, the wound textile can stick to the wound, which is prejudicial to the healing process.
DAS No. 1,143,299 discloses a two-layer bandaging material, which is woven and inelastic. The absorbent layer of this bandaging material, which is in the form of a hydrophilic fabric, is joined to a second fabric layer made from non-swellable threads or tapes. This bandaging material is a double fabric, which is inelastic and difficult and expensive to manufacture, so that it is virtually unusable as a disposable article as a result of the high manufacturing costs.
German Pat. No. 529,559 discloses a wound bandage in which a thin, flexible metal fabric or gauze layer is placed on a highly absorbent muslin cushion, so that there is only an insignificant reduction in the absorptivity of the latter. As both layers are not firmly joined together during the production of such a wound bandage, a folding process must take place in a separate operation, which makes the manufacturing procedure complicated and costly.
German Pat. No. 820,179 discloses a bandaging material for discharging wounds. This material is constructed in such a way that it has a moisture-impermeable layer on the side remote from the wound, which seals the latter. The joining of the synthetic material to the muslin fabric and the layers of staple fibre cotton wool is brought about by stitched seams. The disadvantage of this bandaging material is that as a result of the construction, particularly the moisture-impermeable layer in the form of a synthetic material, moist warm chambers form, which are conducive to bacterial and mycotic attacks to the wound.
Swiss Pat. No. 193,469 describes a wound bandage formed from a fibrous material and a film material, the latter being cellulose or cellulose derivatives. The perforated film layer must not stick to the wound. The absorbent layer in this bandage consists of a fibrous material layer, which is completely surrounded by the film layer and is firmly joined thereto. It is disadvantageous that through the application of a moisture-impermeable layer, both the absorptivity and the air ventilation characteristics are considerably impaired, so that here again moist, warm chambers can form, which favour bacterial and mycotic attacks to the wound.
In addition, wound compresses are known, which consist of woven or non-woven materials, whose surface is prevented from sticking to the wound by sintering on a synthetic material layer. However, wound compresses formed in this way have a number of disadvantages. As a result of sintering on synthetic materials, the compresses lose their plasticity, so that when forming the compress onto a wound in the vicinity of joints, e.g. the knee, "bag formation" occurs, and as a result pressure points cannot be avoided. A further important disadvantage of such compresses is that particularly in the case of high secretion levels, the internal stability of the non-woven fabric absorbent layer remote from the wound side is lost, because stability only exists between the loose fibres in the dry state. Thus, on absorbing secretion, the individual fibre bundles are loosened and clump together, so that between the covering layer and the absorbent layer an adhesive secretion film is formed, which prevents air ventilation. These disadvantages also occur with wound compresses, whose absorbent layer is made non-sticking by sintering, sticking or melting on a foil.